Bolin Goes on a Diet
by A. Strudel
Summary: After a frightening dream Bolin decides to diet. Just lighthearted Bolin silliness :


After being dead, I'm now resurrected in the fiery flames of summer (more like the deep lakes of free time)... and starting it off with a Legend of Korra fanfic. Whoo!

* * *

Waving a plate-sized drumstick in the air, Bolin hollered, "Another order of the barbeque duck, please!" He returned to his cleared-out dishes, which looked like a battlefield: tableware stained with dark red, pungent sauce, chopsticks and other spear-like objects bathed in the same muck, bones and other beastly remains piled in a sloppy heap.

"Isn't that your fourth one, Bolin?" Korra asked, raising an eyebrow. She looked at her plate (which was half-eaten), then Mako's (which was a fourth-eaten), then Asami's (barely touched).

"You know, we've still got practice after this," interpolated Mako. "Slow down there, Bo." The waitress returned to the table with another steaming arrangement of meat before Bolin and then swiftly walked away. Bolin's eyes glimmered in anticipation for the sensation of sweet, succulent, salty and fatty crispiness when sinking into the skin of barbecued duck.

"Hey, don't worry about it! And I need my fuel-I'm a growing boy!" He proceeded to attack his plate with gusto after having said his piece of food philosophy. As he tore through his meal, he felt his body tremor and stretch gradually...

"Bolin, you're-what the heck?" Asami gasped. Forks and spoons clattered on the wooden table as everyone gaped at Bolin, whose legs and arms lengthened and back broadened. Within seconds he was twice as big as Mako, and without pause he continued to grow, oddly enough, in proportion.

"Oh no! I can't stop! What's going on, guys! Bolin panicked, dropping his food and cupping his face (accidentally smearing his cheeks with sauce).

"We told you to control yourself, 'Lin! Agh," Mako strained, struggling to think what to do. By this point Bolin's head hit the ceiling, and tiny cracks broke loose-

"AH!" Bolin yelped in the silent dark. He snapped his eyes open to Mako, who was beginning to rustle in the bed across from his. "Aheh... did I wake you up?" he whispered.

"Yeah, sorta," Mako replied groggily. "Bad dream?"

"Yeah," Bolin sighed. "I'm fine, though."

"Good," Mako said, turning over his blankets. "Remember, I'm always here for you. 'Night."

* * *

"Nice work today," Korra said, taking off her helmet first after their early morning practice. "Let's grab some breakfast."

"I'm in the mood for steamed buns*,"Mako mused. "Asami'll wanna join us, too." At this Korra's smile dropped for a millisecond, but fast enough to evade any suspicion. "You wanna pick the shop we go to, Bolin?" he asked, shedding off his other heavy armored pads.

"Umm," Bolin began, "I think I'll skip the buns today." Korra and Mako eyed each other in shock, then burst into laughter. "I-I actually wanna eat cabbage soup, y'know? Try something new!... and all."

"Really?" Korra echoed Mako's thought. "Well, we can just go to a stand with what we all want. Shouldn't be that hard."

"You sure, Bo? Never had any interest in anything green," Mako remarked.

"Yeah. I mean, eating a ton of dumplings, beef, pies, and," Bolin paused, "barbecue all the time gets tiring"-he slightly cringed here-"even for me. C'mon, let's get changed and go!"

* * *

It was fluffy, smelling sweet of rice, its surface unblemished and purely white, with a slight spring to the touch. It was filled to the brim with creamy pork, spiced with a spritz of pepper, laced with caramelized onions, and once cut open, steamed white into the cold morning air. Its scent wafted over to his pudgy nose, warming his whole body and making his stomach hum. And then Mako's teeth swiped the dream away in one bite. Bolin cried inside while gingerly stirring his cabbage soup.

"You sure you don't want any? Mako asked, gesturing the bun towards Bolin next to him. Bolin gulped, seeing the meat oozing from the fluffy part. He turned back to his bowl, shaking his head. "Eh, more for me I guess," Mako said hesistantly.

Asami broached, "Are you on a diet, Bolin?"

He grinned sheepishly and answered, "I guess you can say that. Might be a good idea to lose some of this flab, right?" As if to punctuate his sentence, he downed a helping of bland leafiness.

"But I like you the way you are," Asami said, genuinely smiling. The other two smiled in agreement. "In a way, you _are_ your appetite_."_ The group laughed.

"Ah, don't be silly! I'm still me," Bolin said, "I'll just be a bit smaller, is all! But how do you stay so... fit, Asami?"

Nibbling on her bun, Asami answered, "I don't think I can eat vegetables all the time-actually, I eat anything I want, just a teeny bit of it."

"Of course Asami would know," Korra said a bit too loudly. "Ahah... we might have a hard time getting used to it, but if it makes you happy, fine with me."

"Hey, how about we all celebrate the 'new Bolin'? Let's order cabbage soup for all of us," Asami joked. At the end of the breakfast there were near-full bowls as everyone laughed paying the bill.

* * *

No matter how hard Bolin tried, he couldn't fling the rock discs into the nets faster than weeks past. "Ugh!" he groaned to the ceiling with his arms behind his head, sweating in exasperation. "Mako, what's wrong with me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Mako answered smoothly as he jump-kicked a wood dummy. "You've been dieting lately."

"Yeah, but I thought I'd be getting faster because I'm lighter!" Bolin said dejectedly. "But I'm way slower than before."

"Well, when you lose weight, you lose both fat _and_ muscle," Mako explained. Bolin ran over to him, grabbing his shoulders.

"Ohh, why didn't you tell me this!"

"I thought you knew this," Mako said, annoyed. Bolin let go, bringing his hands to the sides of his heads.

"Aaah, it took me so long to build those biceps! Nooo! What do I _doooo_," he spewed aloud his thoughts. He hurriedly picked up a pair of giant dumbbells, and as he began to lift his eyes popped open. "OHH my God, I think I'm gonna burst a vein!"

"Wait, wait," Mako said, "Why did you want to lose weight in the first place then? You had a nightmare the night before-it had something to do with it, huh?" Bolin dropped the dumbbells and scratched his head in embarrassment.

"I might as well tell you," he said. "Okay, so... I had a dream."

"Uh huh."

"We were all eating at a restaurant."

"Uh huh."

"And I was eating a ton of food-"

"As usual. Uh huh."

"And then I became huge. Like, really huge!"

"You mean fat?"

"No, I mean... you know how people look small when they're far away and big when they're close? Well, it's like that, 'cept I was so big I hit the ceiling-"

"Mm hm."

"-and that's when I woke up."

Mako looked at Bolin, fighting to keep the corners of his mouth down, but lost. As the room was filled with laughter, Bolin joined in, soon wiping tears from his eyes.

"If you ever get taller than me, I'd probably eat like crazy to catch up with you," Mako said after catching his breath. "I can't have you watching over _me._"

"You can have that responsibility, Mako. Be a good brother and order up some dumplings, will ya?" A slap to the head. "Aw, c'mon, I haven't eaten any good food in ages!"

* * *

* Chinese _baozi_, or Vietnamese _banh bao_

It might be a weensy bit OOC but I think Bolin could actually be scared by that sort of silly dream. Hahaha.


End file.
